GalChimia opens an R&D centre in the Barcelona Science Park Blog Post

Galician company GalChimia –a specialist in organic chemistry products and services for the pharmaceutical industry– has today opened its R&D centre in the Barcelona Science Park to step up its growth and internationalisation strategy. With this first subsidiary the Galicia-based company expects to increase its turnover by 25% over the next two years and step up its growth and internationalisation plan.

 

RAC1 protein could be a new therapeutic target to fight neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease Blog Post

A new research study reveals RAC1 protein could be a new therapeutic target to study the molecular mechanisms related to the neurodegenerative processes in Parkinson’s disease. The study, published in the online edition of the journal Molecular Neurobiology, is led by Antonella Consiglio –head of the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Neuroplasticity at the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) in the Barcelona Science Park and researcher at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL)– and Esther Dalfo, from the Univesitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya.

 

Oriol Segarra, CEO of Uriach, appointed member of the Board of Directors of Mind the Byte Blog Post

Mind the Byte, located at the Barcelona Science Park, announces the designation of Oriol Segarra, CEO of the pharmaceutical company Uriach, as a new member of the board of directors. With this appointment, the bioinformatics company –specializing in computational drug discovery using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies– wants to accelerate its business plan for its growth and internationalisation. 

 

QIAGEN enters into agreement to acquire STAT-Dx Blog Post

Qiagen, a Netherlands-based holding company has entered into an agreement to acquire Stat-Dx –a privately-held company with headquarters at the Barcelona Science Park– for $191 million. The catalan biotec, founded in 2010 by Jordi Carrera and Rafael Bru, is focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of “Closer to Care” diagnostic solutions.

 

EIT Health Wild Card: €4 million in search of innovative health ideas Blog Post

Under the new Wild Card programme, EIT Health consortium –the largest European body for innovation in healthy living and active ageing– has announced €4 million in funding for disruptive initiatives that help transform European healthcare and mitigate the social and economic impact of the progressive ageing of the population. The Universitat de Barcelona (UB), a core partner and promoter of EIT Health Spain, is one of the 14 European institutions that will offer advisory and incubation services to the two winning teams to turn their ideas into a business plan through of the Barcelona Entrepreneurship Institute (BIE), the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG) and the Barcelona Science Park (PCB). On Monday, January 29, an informative session will take place at the PCB.

 

Minoryx starts a phase II/III clinical study of MIN-102 for the treatment of adrenomyeloneuropathy Blog Post

Minoryx Therapeutics –a company specialized in the development of new drugs for orphan diseases, located at the Barcelona Science Park and the TecnoCampus Mataró– announces the start of its pivotal phase II/III clinical trial of MIN-102 for the treatment of adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), the most frequent phenotype of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD). The trial enrolls adult male patients affected by AMN, the most frequent phenotype of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD).

 

Closing in on advanced prostate cancer Blog Post

A team headed by Xavier Salvatella, ICREA researcher from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) at the Barcelona Science Park, has discovered a new avenue through which to attack prostrate cancer cells that have developed drug-resistance. Published in the journal Structure, part of the Cell group, the study has involved Angel R. Nebreda’s lab and the Experimental Bioinformatics Lab, both at IRB Barcelona, and also the University of Barcelona.  

 

Cells sense their environment to explore it Blog Post

The way cells find their way around is by ‘groping’ rather than seeing their surroundings: this is the main conclusion of a study published in Nature last week involving several IBEC groups and their collaborators. The study was led by Pere Roca-Cusachs, lecturer from the Department of Biomedicine and main researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB).

 

A genetic mutation in the evolution of animals explains the origin of some human organs Blog Post

A neutral genetic mutation –a fluke in the evolutionary process with no apparent biological purpose– that appeared over 700 million years ago in biological evolution could help explain the origin of complex organs and structures in human beings and other vertebrates, according to an article published in Nature Communications by a team led by Professor Jordi García-Fernàndez, from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), Manuel Irimia (CRG) and Maria Ina Arnone (Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, Italy).